Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Stoke D'Abernon

A church of outstanding importance with origins in the late 7th century. The south wall and apse date to this period, whilst the nave was built in the 12th century and the chancel added in the 13th century. The Norbury Chapel to the north was constructed around 1490. The church was restored in 1866 by Ford and Hesketh.

The building is constructed of flint and stone with Roman tiles to the south wall, and flint with stone dressings to the remainder. The roofs are plain tiled with a copper weathervane mounted on the tower.

The plan comprises a nave with a north aisle, south porch, and tower to the north west, with the chancel to the east and the Norbury Chapel to the north of the chancel. The two-stage tower features recessed panels to the first stage, a corbel band at the base of the spire, and a clock face to the north side beneath an open wooden bellchamber. Trefoil arched windows appear to the north side of the church, whilst the south features stone-dressed lancet windows.

The interior contains a three-bay nave arcade to the north with pointed arches, slightly chamfered, resting on simple square and scalloped capitals with round piers. A restored Victorian chancel arch leads to the two-bay chancel, which contains quadripartite rib vaulting of around 1250. The original window splays on the south side are adjusted to the size of the vaulting bays, with a dog-tooth band between the rolls of the transverse arch.

The Norbury Chapel to the north contains fragments of an old apse, late Perpendicular windows, and a fireplace on the north wall—a rare feature in a pre-Reformation chapel. A blocked Thegns door to a former gallery exists on the south wall of the nave, representing the earliest English example of such a feature.

The church contains notable fittings. A 13th-century arched piscina is set into the south chancel wall. The Jacobean pulpit was given by Sir Francis Vincent in 1620 and features a heptagonal body with sounding board suspended from elaborate wrought iron ties, standing on a central column with seven wooden volutes leading to seven monster finials. The lectern is an English eagle on a Baroque barley-sugar stem. Simple 17th-century communion rails date from around 1630. A 13th-century oak chest and a mid-15th-century Flemish Annunciation altar painting are also present. A North Italian limestone statue of the Madonna dates from around 1500.

The stained glass includes an east window containing a series from Costessey Hall, Norfolk, in the central light and outer panels from Cassiobury. The nave windows contain French roundels of around 1510, 15th-century English King glass, and further 15th and 16th-century glass in the chancel and Norbury Chapel.

Painted fragments of a 13th-century Adoration of the Lamb appear on the east wall of the chancel.

The monuments are of considerable importance. Over the south door is a black and white marble obelisk erected in 1843 to Mary Jane Phillips, featuring a draped female figure by E Galfin.

The Norbury Chapel contains many fine monuments, built to commemorate the victory at the Battle of Bosworth. On the north wall is a white and polychrome marble monument to Sir Francis Vincent (died 1735, monument erected 1762), aedicular in form with a broken pediment and oval urns to the centre of the pediment, with a coat of arms on a curved apron below. The south wall arcade contains a flesh-coloured alabaster monument to Thomas Lyfield (died 1592) with black and gilt decoration and brass plate, featuring a rectangular panel with cill and hood mouldings and strapwork surround to a crowning coat of arms. A brass to Ellen Bray is dated 1516 with a figure in swaddling clothes. An arch between the chancel and chapel bears a brass to Anne Norbury (died 1464), a standing figure 15 inches high with eight children at her feet. The east wall of the chapel contains a marble and gilt wall plate to Sir John Norbury (died 1521) with a broken pediment containing a strapwork coat of arms and a central niche with flanking pilasters containing a kneeling figure of the knight. Fine lifesize painted effigies in profile relief lie beneath crested canopies with panelled responds, commemorating Lady Sarah Vincent and Sir Thomas Vincent (died 1608 and 1613 respectively). The tomb of Sir Thomas contains the effigy of his wife Jane lying below (died 1619).

In the chancel is a brass to Sir John D'Abernon (died 1277), the oldest English brass at six feet six inches long, depicting a knight in armour, full face, carrying a lance and shield with an enamelled blue copper shield. Another brass commemorates Sir John D'Abernon the younger (died 1327), showing a five-foot figure of a knight under an ogee canopy with a lion at his feet.

The Church of St Mary is one of the very few seignorial churches to have survived from Saxon origins whilst displaying the successive architectural developments of subsequent periods.